January 5 - 14, 2013 "Friends - New & Old"

Slap my hands and call me Shorty. As hard as I try and stay current on our blog, it is becoming more difficult to do with so many distractions that pop up at a moment’s notice. So, daily I must choose between doing “something”, or writing about what we’re doing. With that said, I’ll try and catch up.

We had visitors from Cheyenne, WY; our friends Tom and Trudy, with whom we try and see if our travels take us close to their place. They were accompanied by their daughter, Pam, as we introduced them to Nuevo Progreso (NP). We all had a wonderful time, and one of us had a few too many margaritas. I’m not one to name names, so I’ll just leave it, and chalk it up to the fact that they were probably just young and inexperienced with such beverages. (Click on any image to enlarge)

Every day since we arrived, CC continues with exercise classes at 8 am, now moved to 7:15 to allow for two classes each morning as more Winter Texans arrive. She has also virtually eliminated margaritas from her routine in NP when she realized that one margarita contained over 700 calories, about half of her total daily target. That also got my attention, as we are both trying to shed a few LB’s, and after some extensive research, we have both switched to a healthier alternative; gin and diet tonic, which has 130 calories and zero carbs. Since tonic water (agua aquina) is not available in NP, we must take our own. No problemo as our favorite bartender, Tony, is only too happy to oblige!

The weather has been cooler than normal, and has drastically curtailed our favorite daily activity; “pool time”. Occasionally, we bite the bullet and venture to the hot tub to relax and ease my aching back. This is an extremely difficult lifestyle we live, and is taxing the limits of my sciatica. For those of you who may be considering full timing, please take this into account before making any life changing decisions. J

Fellow blogger HeyDuke50 (http://zeetraveler.blogspot.com/) commented a few weeks ago to notify them the next time we were going to MX, and so we did. John and Sharon embarked on their full time lifestyle just a few months after we began ours, and our travels over this past summer covered many of the same places, albeit in the reverse direction. We made plans to meet them at the border and walk over the bridge into NP together. Rather than being redundant, I just realized as I’m writing this that John & Sharon already beat me to it and posted about our trip to NP. Log on to their blog and read all about it. Their rendition is much more eloquent than mine could ever hope to be. I will only add that we had a blast and when we met John & Sharon, we felt an instant connection. As my Dad would say, they are good people, and we hope to see them again on Friday. Cheers!

To further illustrate the challenging aspects of this lifestyle, last Friday morning CC and I had our day planned, only to be disrupted into total chaos by Carl & Carla, when the phoned us around 9 am and informed us that they and 4 others from South Padre were going to NP for dental appointments. We already had our daily plans made, but, sacrifice if we must, after all, what are friends for? They would reciprocate if the tables were turned. Right? Aaah….maybe not! So I tell CC, “We have to suck it up, and take one for the team.”

After lunch, a few in the group wanted to get manicures / pedicures, so we ventured southward and dropped them off as we continued to Arriba’s, located across the street from the school in Progreso Plaza. As luck would have it, it was Happy Hour, which meant 2 for 1 drink specials. I think we all agreed, the margaritas were definitely not as good as Tony’s. Pictured below, left to right, John, Sharon. CC, Carla Jack & Cindy.

I know it seems that we spend ALL of our time in MX, but that is not true. We do have a lot of fun here in the park as well. It’s just that several of our neighbors are either on the LAM or in the Federal Witness Protection Program, and wouldn’t take to kindly of us if we published their names, pictures or event accounts. Just one more reason this lifestyle is so taxing; you really got to be on your toes 24/7.

Until next time, take care and stay well………………….